"Why isn't there an end to this? Did we take a wrong turn... What do you guys think—"
On the sixteenth floor of the Silent Spiral, Yaxiu was walking along an endless wall. As soon as they entered the sixteenth floor, they had seen only this single wall stretching through the boundless darkness.
After telling him everything, Igola had returned to the fifteenth floor with Gwen, leaving Yaxiu to traverse the unknown trial of the sixteenth floor alone.
Yaxiu had soon reached the wall, but none of his attacks had any effect on it, nor could he fly over it. His only choice was to walk along it. After walking for a while with nothing happening, he grew a little impatient and instinctively turned to ask the others for their thoughts.
Only after speaking aloud did he startle to the realization of just how massive this place was, how hollow his voice sounded, how pitch-black his surroundings were, and how terribly small he was in comparison. Panic born of the gloom and anxiety born of the unknown gradually crept into Yaxiu's heart, driving him to press close against the wall beside him in an instinctive search for something to lean on.
In truth, previous trial grounds were no smaller than this, yet Yaxiu had never felt panicked. The Void Realm was even more unknown than this place, yet Yaxiu had never felt afraid.
That was because in reality he had Igola and the others, and in the Void Realm he had the Sword Princess, the Witch, and Weise. With them around, no matter how vast the world was, it never felt empty; no matter how unknown the darkness was, it never felt frightening. Whether returning to reality or stepping back into the Void Realm, Yaxiu could always say out loud, "I'm back."
Or, in Yaxiu's rather vulgar phrasing: *Having someone beside me means that even if I die, there'll be bodies under mine to cushion the fall. Just thinking about that makes me feel a whole lot better.*
Thinking back carefully, although Yaxiu had transmigrated so long ago, he never seemed to have truly been alone. Even during the hollow interim after breaking out of prison, he had spent it with Freya, that silly Veela university student; even when he strayed into the Divine Fire Trial, he had fought side by side with the Twin Watcher.
Yet now, Harvey and Chikala remained on the tenth floor of the Silent Spiral, holding a grand funeral for Senluo's foremost sorcerer who had gone mad.
Igola and Gwen had gone back to find Tamashi and confront Mercury Trojan and her stomach full of vile schemes.
Yaxiu had no choice but to press forward alone, descending to the bottom floor by himself to hunt down the Silver Lantern once more.
At the thought, Yaxiu couldn't help letting out a self-deprecating chuckle. His main quest upon arriving in Senluo was to hunt down the Silver Lantern. He had clearly abandoned that quest halfway through, yet before leaving, he still ended up having to finish it. It was like a dead main quest suddenly leaping out of its grave to attack him.
*Could we not be so thoroughly committed to seeing things through from start to finish?*
The Silver Lantern...
Recalling the intelligence Igola had shared with him just now, Yaxiu couldn't hold back a soft sigh.
"Then don't go, silly."
Yaxiu froze and turned his head to look around.
"Over here! It's me! I've been following you for so long, and you didn't even recognize me?"
He finally determined that the voice was coming from the shadow on the wall—his shadow.
The shadow waved at him. "Hi! I can finally talk to you. I'm so excited! Can we shake hands?"
A question mark practically popped up on Yaxiu's face, but he still reached out and tapped the shadow's hand on the wall. The shadow said delightedly, "You really are a gentle person. How about staying here to chat with me?"
"No," Yaxiu said. "I need to reach the bottom floor to stop the Silver Lantern. Can you help me find the mist gate to the next floor?"
"Why bother?" the shadow replied. "You don't actually want to go, do you?"
"You know very well that the Silver Lantern and Tamashi are the same kind of person. They have short lifespans and unwavering convictions, which is why they can burn everything they have with all their heart and soul for the sake of their dreams. They're like fireworks; as long as they've shone brightly, that's enough. What they pursue is that single instant when they're set ablaze.
"The Silver Lantern prepared for her dream for so many years. Her life has become thoroughly bound to it. She has thrown her own life and death to the wind; as long as it's fulfilled, she'd gladly draw her final breath the very next second. How could you possibly stop her?" the shadow urged. "You'd be better off going right back to find Igola and the others. Then you can use Mercury Trojan's void portal passage to go to another realm. Who knows, maybe it'll lead to the Stars or Gospel!"
Yaxiu countered, "Didn't you want me to stay?"
"Oh, right." The shadow scratched its head. "But I know you definitely won't stay. There's no Sword Princess or Witch here... Oh, right, right! Next time, could you bring them here? That way, I could meet their shadows..."
Yaxiu gave neither assent nor denial, asking instead, "Does this wall have an end?"
"Nope! This wall is boundless. You can't possibly walk past it." The shadow shook its head. "This is a very, veeeery formidable trial! You can only stay here and chat with me. But isn't that nice too?"
"Impossible. Every trial is guaranteed to have a way through." Yaxiu looked at the shadow with a strange expression. "Even if I have to resort to brute force, I'll smash my way through."
"Don't look at me like that! I'm just a shadow; I can't influence this trial," the shadow said, throwing its hands up. "Besides, why do you have to get through? Stopping the Silver Lantern is perilous. Even if you can retreat to Thousand Wishes Heaven at any moment, accidents can always happen.
"More importantly, Igola and the others aren't by your side right now. If the Silver Lantern goes mad and initiates world destruction directly, you won't even have time to pull them into Thousand Wishes Heaven for refuge. With the void portal passage as a route and Thousand Wishes Heaven as your trump card, you could have safely avoided Senluo's apocalypse. But if you stubbornly insist on going your own way, you might end up being the only survivor.
"Or do you value the lives of everyone in Senluo over Igola and the rest?" The shadow seemed genuinely curious. "Are you hoping people you don't even know will applaud you? No one knows what's happening inside the Silent Spiral, and no one will ever know you played the savior."
Yaxiu said, "You're annoying."
"That just means you can't argue back!" The shadow put its hands on its hips. "I know what you're agonizing over—isn't it just guilt? You feel you have the ability to save the Senluo Realm, and you happened to stumble into this mess, so you should at least do your best. Otherwise, if the Senluo Realm really is destroyed and tens of millions of people are turned to ash with it, you'll feel it was because you evaded your responsibility, and your conscience will never let you rest.
"But an uneasy conscience is still better than letting Igola and the others die, isn't it? An uneasy conscience is better than putting yourself in mortal danger!" the shadow argued. "Besides, you've always been the type who stays upright on major principles while tossing petty scruples out the window. You've had a guilty conscience plenty of times! Back when you first started working, your conscience pricked you just for getting a bonus, making you wonder if you were somehow exploiting the capitalist.
"You managed to mentally adjust even to transmigrating as an evil cult leader, so you can't adjust to a guilty conscience? Once you meet up with the Sword Princess, if you touch her conscience every night, your own conscience meter will fill right back up in no time. If that's not enough, you can touch the Witch's conscience too. Shouldn't that be plenty?"
Yaxiu mused, "Touch her conscience?"
The shadow said, "If you bring their shadows in here, I'll demonstrate for you..."
"No, what I mean is... is touching all I get to do?"
"If I weren't trapped in this wall, I'd definitely punch you in the face."
The shadow huffed, "So what do you say? Act like nothing happened, go back to Igola and the others, take the void portal passage to seek refuge in another realm, and then set up two void portals—one to Gospel to ride Lisi's coattails, and one to Stars to feel the Sword Princess's conscience.
"The only issue is Tamashi, but both you and Igola are great at handling that crow. He'd definitely be willing to give up on revenge and saving the world for your sakes and leave obediently with you."
Yaxiu mused, "Your suggestion really isn't bad."
"I only want to get a look at the Silver Lantern from afar. Once I've seen her, I'll leave," Yaxiu asked sincerely. "Could you let me pass through just to take a look?"
The shadow: "...Talking like that is pointless. If you actually see the Silver Lantern, I'd lose any bet if you could pull your eyes away from her."
"Why do you make me sound like some kind of pervert?" Yaxiu shrugged. "But you know my resolve, don't you?"
The shadow fell silent for a moment. "All you originally wanted was to go home. You didn't come here to save the world. You have zero preparation—why do you insist on wading into these muddy waters?"
"Who said I have no preparation? I came fully prepared," Yaxiu said. "Without preparation, how could I have bypassed the trial guarded by Senluo's foremost sorcerer? Without preparation, how could I have made Mercury Trojan watch helplessly as she let me go?"
"Wasn't that your friends' doing?"
"They *are* my preparation," Yaxiu replied. "They're the ones who supported me all the way here. Without them, even if I wanted to save the world, I couldn't do it.
"The most indifferent one, Harvey, was willing to stay behind to hold off a formidable enemy. The most calculating one, Igola, didn't try to dissuade me, but instead went back to help Tamashi so I wouldn't have any worries behind me." Yaxiu stopped in his tracks and turned to the shadow. "Is that preparation not thorough enough?
"I really didn't care all that much about saving the Senluo Realm. But the Transcendent Cult was very warm to us, the folks in Black Robe Town were quite interesting, and so many people helped us along the way... More importantly, fate has already pushed me to this very step."
"So you're saying you're being forced?" the shadow seized on the words immediately.
"Yes," Yaxiu nodded. "To keep guilt from crushing my conscience, I really have no other choice.
"Yet my sense of justice at this very moment is just as beyond my control.
"The curse here must be loneliness, right?" Yaxiu raised his head and looked at the boundless wall. "As long as one feels lonely, one will never be able to pass through this wall.
"Thank you for reminding me," Yaxiu said, looking at the shadow. "You helped me realize that I have never once been alone."
White mist began to seep from within the shadow, and it shouted, "Don't say I didn't warn you, Yaxiu! When you fail and lose everything, you'll regret your decision today, and you'll despise yourself for being wrong!"
"If I give it my all and still fail, I can complain about the world to my heart's content instead of resenting myself." Yaxiu reached out and parted the mist gate within the shadow, saying, "Besides, the only thing I'll ever regret isn't what I did wrong—it's what I didn't do."
"I really can't do anything with you..." the shadow grumbled.
"Then don't let shadows hold your steps back in the future, okay?"
Chapter 713